Trump Defends $1.8 Billion Slush Fund to Shield Allies, Battles GOP Senators Over AG Nominee
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
President Donald Trump has vowed to protect a controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, which critics say is designed to compensate his political allies, as Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis refuse to back his attorney-general nominee Todd Blanche.
President Donald Trump announced on Saturday his intention to aggressively push for legislation preserving a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, a move widely criticized as an attempt to funnel taxpayer money to those pardoned for their roles in the January 6 Capitol insurrection. This comes after Republican senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom are soon leaving Congress, signaled they would not support Trump's pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche. Trump took to his social-media platform to threaten that if the senators block Blanche’s confirmation, he will simply keep Blanche as acting attorney general and force the fund’s legislation through a Congress increasingly beholden to his whims.
Cornyn and Tillis have tied their support for Blanche to the administration’s handling of this fund, which would reward individuals who participated in an attack on democracy. Tillis posted on X that Trump’s comments suggest a plan to revive the payout mechanism, which he called “bogus,” and warned that this power struggle could delay Blanche’s confirmation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Blanche’s nomination on Wednesday, citing the senators’ principled objections. At a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump doubled down, blaming a federal judge for blocking the fund but insisting his administration would continue to push for its reinstatement, dismissing any connection to the attorney-general nomination.
The so-called anti-weaponization fund originated from a settlement in a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS, which outrageously included immunity from IRS audits for Trump and his family. Cornyn and Tillis have also objected to these blatant self-serving provisions.
If the nomination remains stalled, Trump has threatened to withdraw Blanche’s name and resubmit it next year, after these two senators have left office, further demonstrating his disregard for checks and balances.